Yesterday, on January 21, the Andhra Pradesh government launched its much awaited doorstep ration delivery system. Chief minister YS Jagmohan Reddy saw off the ration-delivery vehicles at a function in Vijayawada.

In all, 9,260 vehicles, valued at Rs 539 crores, have been pressed into service to distribute rice and other essential commodities to ration cardholders at their doorstep. Of these, 2,500 door delivery vehicles are earmarked for Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts of the state. The chief minister had made a promise to provide prompt and quality rations during his padyatra before the 2019 elections.

The ration vehicles will be tracked using GPS (Global Positioning System). Fingerprints of the cardholders will be used in this distribution system. The vehicles are expected to distribute the ration within the first 18 days of each month.

The quality of the grains being delivered has also been upgraded. Earlier, the quality of grains distributed in the rations was reportedly sub-standard and adulterated. To upgrade the quality of the grains, the Andhra Pradesh food and civil supply department changed its policy for the procurement of rice which is expected to solve the matter of dyed rice and too many stones in it.

Reusable sealed bags will be tagged with a unique code to avoid adulteration and will be opened in front of the beneficiaries.

The government is also issuing ration cards to new beneficiaries. Approximately, five lakh new ration cards have been issued since June 2020.